Elis Take Eighth at Northeast Regional

BOSTON -
This weekend, the Bulldogs obtained another solid top-10 finish at the NCAA Northeast regional held at Franklin Park, bouncing back from a fall to 14th-place in the most recent regional rankings. Yale placed 8th out of 34 teams with 268 points, winning the tie-breaker against Stony Brook (also with 268 points) by virtue of a higher finish for the sixth Bulldog runner. The team was once again led by the effort of junior Jake Gallagher, who placed 19th with a time of 30:26 over the 10,000 meter course.

Behind Gallagher, the other scoring Elis were sophomore Chris Labosky (44th, 31:07), senior captain Tadhg O'Callaghan (58th, 31:19), freshman Johnny Van Deventer (67th, 31:27) and junior Murat Kayali (85th, 31:52). The last time the Bulldogs raced the Northeast Regional on this course at Franklin Park in 2005, they placed 10th with their top runner finishing in 31:23, a time which Yale's top three all managed to surpass this weekend.

Less than thirty seconds ahead of Gallagher was the individual winner, senior Max Smith of Providence, who took the crown in 29:58.

However, taking the top two places was not enough for No. 18 Providence, as No. 4 Iona placed all their scoring runners in the top 15 to win the meet with 37 points to Providence's 46. These two teams, along with the top two teams from each of the other eight regions, earned automatic bids to compete at the NCAA Championships on Nov. 19.

Thirteen "at-large" selections for the championships will also be made from among the top-five finishing teams from each region. The top four individuals from each region not qualifying on a team will also earn automatic bids. Selections will be available after 6pm, Sunday Nov. 11 at www.ncaasports.com/crosscountry.

While Gallagher will narrowly miss a selection this year, he will be one of the top-10 returnees for the Northeast region next year, and a likely candidate for a trip to Nationals.

In one week, on Sat. Nov. 17, the Bulldogs will run their final competition of this cross-country season: the IC4A Championships at Van Cortlandt park in the Bronx. The 5-mile race will go off at 10:30am. Last year at this meet, Gallagher placed sixth, leading Yale to a third place team finish.